Donegal’s social housing list grows by more than 6% in a year

Donegal’s social housing list has grown by more than 6% in a year.

Figures released by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage show the number of households qualifying for social housing support in the county has increased by 52 between 2001 and 2002, from 856 to 908, an increase of 6.1%.

The increase in Donegal is against the national trend which has seen a 2.4% decrease in 12 months.

The figures show the largest age group of applicants in the county is 30 to 39-year-olds, with 243 applicants.

Some 597 of the applicants in Donegal last year were unemployed and in receipt of social/community welfare with  588 households depending on social welfare as their only source of income.

The vast majority of applicants, 588, were from households consisting of one adult with 182 from households of one adult and up to two children.

Man used dead brother's identity to dupe State out of €93,000 in benefits

The pensioner's scheme was brought down when officials at the passport office twigged something was amiss when the man uploaded his own photograph for an application

The main needs cited for social housing support in the county in 2022 was unsuitable accommodation and or household circumstances, which accounted for 477 applications. Some 800 of the applications had no specific accommodation requirements.Of the households on the waiting list, 181 had waited less than six months. A total of 596 households were waiting more than one year with 57 waiting for more than seven years.

The vast majority of the applicants, 777, were Irish citizens, with 98 citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) on the list. Non-EEA citizens accounted for 21 with 12 UK citizens among the waiting applicants.